We had the absolute privilege of heading down to the legendary Rock City last Sunday to check out four of the biggest names from the early 2000s alt-metal scene all on the same bill. As a fan of all the bands from my childhood, I’d been excited for this gig for a good while and, spoiler alert, it was fantastic. But we couldn’t not let you know just how amazing each band were! Read on to hear the thoughts of a gushing fangirl…

First up were maybe the band I was most pumped for; The Union Underground. As a Ruthless Agression wrestling fan, ‘Across the Nation’ was one of the soundtracks of my childhood, and said track didn’t disappoint live. Between those and other old-school hits like ‘South Texas Deathride’, ‘Killing the Fly’ and ‘Turn me On “Mr Deadman”‘, the setlist was awesome. Heck, we were even treated to a yet-unreleased track from a project the band are working on, and it was almost as big a highlight as the rest of the tracks! Honestly it’s just so good to have them back as a band. Bryan Scott still sounds as good as he ever did, and the rest of the band gelled so well and sounded so good, it’s hard to believe that they are essentially more hired guns at this point. The band certainly over-delievered for me, and were a fantastic way to kick off the night!

Next up were the most consistently successful band on the bill, the incredible Nonpoint. And it’s easy to see why the band are still arguably on the rise decades into their careers. The band are putting out some amazing studio work still (though it’s been too long!) and put on a live show like few others. The band are absolute firecrackers on stage, with some of the most energy and stage presence I’ve seen from any performance. And Elias is one hell of a frontman too, with truly magnetic energy. He held the crowd in the palm of his hand throughout, yet the rest of the band put on just as good and energetic a show, too! Plus, coming out swinging with tracks like ‘Chaos and Earthquakes’, ‘Dodge Your Destiny’ and ‘Bullet with a Name’, and it was one hell of a setlist. My only complaint is that it was pretty short; I need to see a full set from them and SOON.

P.S. Nonpoint helped me realise that while just one band member wearing their own merch on stage is cringy, every member wearing it is cool AF.

Next up were the band I knew the least of (Hed) PE. However, goddamn, I came away obsessed! All I’d heard from the band before was ‘Bartender’ (which was amazing live), but the band are far more than that track. Opening up heavy with the likes of ‘No Way Out’ and ‘Ratrace’, Jared got to flex his screaming chops early. And even through some technical issues, they sounded fantastic. However, they easily changed pace throughout, even giving us snippets of ‘Get Up, Stand Up’ and ‘Smoke Two Joints’ in the middle of songs. The reggae influence was strong, and blended seamlessly with their hard rock and metal sounds. Plus, every member of the band worked their asses off to put on one hell of a show! And what’s more, the crowd were big into them and ate up every single note! They got a solid 45-minute set that still went by in a flash and damn, they have a huge new fan in me, both live and on track!

Then we finally reached the headliner of the evening, the mighty Soil. Now, I’m going to be straight-up here. I’d seen Soil before in the same venue, back when they supported Static X on their comeback tour. That was another four-band lineup, and sadly I came away thinking Soil were the weakest band of the night. Even more sadly, I came away with the same feeling this time. However, that’s certainly not to say Soil were bad, just that the other three bands previously mentioned were incredible.

I LOVE Scars, so to hear the vast majority of it live was pretty awesome. The band performed it well too, even with Ryan’s self-admitted ‘shot’ voice. They sounded just as good as they do on that album, and it was great fun to see. However, that was about all they did, and that was my main issue with them. They played 11/13 Scars tracks, then came on and did their ‘Black Betty’ cover as an encore, alongside ‘Pride’, and it sounds like that’s a rare addition on the tour. I get the crowd are there to celebrate their breakout album, but when the headline band of the night are on stage for barely an hour and have plenty of other hits from other albums, it does feel just slightly cheep.

I don’t want to complain because as I said, they sounded awesome and put on a hell of a show. Maybe if they hadn’t had such a strong support lineup I’d have come away loving the set even more, but while I had a great time watching them, I did feel ever so slightly deflated at the end. Clearly I just love ‘Redifine’ too much to not hear it live!

And there we have it, an absolutely stellar night of alt-metal music! All four bands killed it, and won me over even more to them. In the last few days I’ve barely stopped listening to any of them, which is surely the sign of a good show! There’s still a couple of dates left on the tour and at least Nonpoint teased other UK shows in the near future, but I cannot recommend any of them enough live. If they are anywhere nearby any time soon, check them out, you won’t be disappointed!